Springing up faith-filled expectations

"All I have seen, teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen."

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

I am always so incredibly excited and filled with a fresh sense of hope and excitement as the seasons change from Winter to Spring. I am no longer dreading cold and cloudy days, but look forward to the grass turning green and the birds chirping away after a fresh rain fall that produces beautiful blooms on flowers and in the trees. The color that fills the world around me again "springs" up a much needed refreshing sense of hope and even repair. 

As I pleaded for God to show me what post to share this week, I struggled and struggled with trying to come up with something. I often clean when I am stressed and I had to stop mid-floor sweep and sit at the computer because His words were flooding my heart and my fingers could not type fast enough.

You may or may not have read my post on patient expectations. I have to admit— the sense of waiting and expecting still stirs a loud commotion in my heart. I know that patience is not inactivity— as a follower of Christ I should not look like Eeyore (the gloomy character from Winnie the Pooh).

Eeyore sits around and accepts all things handed to him with no hope of a better outcome. Christ has been working on my heart to share that if we called to fix our eyes on Jesus, we are co-heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17), and we have been given the power through the Holy Spirit to believe and expect God to move in a mighty way!

We often try to handle hard situations in our own strength, however, there is only strength in our weakness. Truth is, we were not created to walk through this life alone and how silly it is of us to continue to do that very thing.

When we surrender our hearts to Christ, when we call on God to go before us and do the things that only He is able to do and BELIEVE with all our hearts that he is going to do it, that is stepping out in faith and it is scary.  

There have been a few times in the last six months that I have seen God answer my prayers and move so boldly that it brought tears to my eyes and made me giggle with delight; He is so good and so faithful.

One day I had been praying for a friend and an awkward situation, and knowing I was going to Target I said, "God, maybe put her in my path at Target. I don't know what I will say but my heart hurts for this friendship and I believe you can do it." And he did. It was not a joyful reunion and the outcome may have not been everything I had dreamed up in my head, but God is not done yet and it was just enough to keep believing that He is going to continue to work in that situation.

This week my Dad and I were going to deal with a family matter. I had prayed for God to go before us all morning, for His presence to be heavy and for favor because there are so many hard things in life that we can not even pretend to have the answers or strength for, but God does. On our way, my Dad got pulled over by a police officer. He was a nervous wreck and had no idea why he was getting pulled over. As the officer came up to his window he said, "Good afternoon sir. You were going a bit fast back there. I actually clocked you going 54 in a 35, but no big deal, I am just giving out warnings today." 

NO BIG DEAL?!?!?!

My dad (who is a hesitant believer) looked at me and said, "Well, my buddy told me that he was praying for me today." I do not count this as a little thing, and frankly I wanted to jump out and give that officer a big hug, to us it was a big deal! God was showing us his faithfulness and love in a way that only he could.

I believe it is so important to keep our eyes open for the ways in which God works. If you walk around with your eyes down or too tuned in to your wants and needs, you miss out on the beautiful ways in which God created humans and relationship with Him and each other. You miss out on his divine appointments. I understand that sometimes God doesn't answer our prayers the way we might be boldly believing and asking him to, and I get that. I have been there too. What I am trying to convey is not a magical solution— it is a relationship solution.

My point though is this:

If you never boldly step out in faith and believe God to do the impossible, then you will miss out on the opportunity He gives us to walk with him here on Earth to draw close to him and to see the impossible. 

You miss out on witnessing growth and beauty that God wants to bloom inside of you and all around you and sometimes God takes you through that dark and dreary winter to get there, but believe with all your heart that he is faithful and you will bloom with vibrant colors when you expect God to be faithful no matter what. 

You are missing out if you are praying without believing. Praying without expecting God to do the impossible. Praying without expecting God to do the miraculous. Praying without expecting God to be and do nothing less than who he is. The King of Kings and the Lord of Lords who loves you and will do amazing things in your life when you believe Him without doubt or hesitation. 

There will be a shift in your attitude and mind when you start believing God and his word. 

"Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say  to this mountain, 'Be taken up and thrown into the sea,' it will happen. And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith."

— Matthew 21:21-22

This has challenged me, because I often find that I pray with victory and passion over the big and pressing things in my life. However, sometimes I forget that God wants to show me victory in those little things as well. 

Maybe God wants to show you victory in your health, over your anxiety, over your choices for education for your children, how to get your picky eater to eat better food instead of pizza and cereal (a real life battle for me and a certain child of mine) or even the next steps in your life whether big or small. 

I can not help but get excited about expecting God to continue to show up in my life as we are only a few weeks away from Easter. If we truly believe His word and the power of His death that took on the sins of the world for the love of his people to defeat death. We know that we can expect Him to move in the lives of the people he created and loves with an eternal and immeasurable love. 

God is waiting for you to believe with your whole heart that He is good and He wants to show up in your life. What can you expect Him to show up for? What can you thank Him right now for what he is about to do in your life?